Liberty Lofts: Taubman College West

If you are a young, plump child with a sweet tooth then Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory is the place for you. If you are an architect or architecture student looking to make moves, head to Taubman College's newest addition, Liberty Lofts.

Liberty Lofts is located on the west side of Ann Arbor and hosts a wide range of events and services for the architecture program. The old auto factory (maybe) was originally purchased in order to give the school's faculty more flexible office and research spaces. It has since morphed into a flexible space used by the school for not only faculty research, but also school events, presentations and student reviews.

Just as Frank Lloyd Wright had Taliesin West as a winter escape to the Arizona desert, Taubman College has Liberty Lofts. An escape from the office, the classroom and the studio. The good news for us is we don't have to trek across the desert to get there.

In recent months Liberty Lofts has played host to the school's "Research Through Making" faculty presentations and exhibition, 2012 Thesis reviews, MS_DT final reviews and until recently has been the headquarters for the design and construction of the school's 5fellows installations for this years Venice Bienalle.

I had the privilege to assist in the recent 5fellows Venice Bienalle work and spent almost a month straight doing everything from cutting wood on the chop saw, assembling installation mock-ups, building shipping crates the size of efficiency apartments and walking around with endless amounts of 2x4's.

All of this work was done at Liberty Lofts with other professors and students all around. Some working on building installations, while others are working in more office conditions along the side windows. Whatever people are working on, there is always lots of creative energy floating around.

About this Blog

I am a graduate student and an entrepreneur at the University of Michigan Taubman College where my studies are focused on leveraging design ideas across multiple scales and platforms. Meeting at the intersection between design, tectonics and fabrication, I am continually exploring how a design idea can navigate complex material and production systems and evolve into fully realized architectural artifacts.